In May, Realtors in Boone, Ogle and Winnebago counties were involved in 399 home sales. That was 4.7 percent above May 2013’s total of 381 and the highest since 2010 when 414 were sold.

It also was the third straight month that home sales were higher year over year, and Realtors now are running 2 percent ahead of last year’s pace when 4,081 homes were sold.

“U.S. housing activity has been slowly gaining in the first half of 2014,” Rockford Area Realtors CEO Steve Bois said in a news release, “and housing industry experts say growing consumer demand will help an improving market well into 2015.”

Unfortunately, sale prices continue to be well down from 2013, although they also are rising as the weather heats up.

The three month rolling average price at the end of May was $96,935. That’s the highest the average has hit since December when it was $100,964. Still, it was down 7 percent from May 2013 when the three-month average was $104,240.

The rising number of sales is bringing more buyers into the market. According to Realtors Association statistics, the number of homes on the market in May climbed to 2,066. That was the highest number of available homes in six months.